50 Things To Do on Independence Day Without Electronic Communication! #PhoneFree4th

Some civil servants are just like my loved ones

They work so hard and they try to be strong

---Talking Heads, "Don't Worry About the Government" (1977) 

I hope that everyone is well along in their plans to turn off their phones and iPads and computers and pagers (does anyone still carry pagers?) on July 4th. It's not that we are concerned about the government's desire and ability to protect us like an older sibling -- a "big brother" to use the older politically-incorrect gender-unneutral formulation. We understand the government's reasons for wanting to know everything about every one of us. And we know that no American government would ever do anything to hurt its own people, no matter who is sitting in the White House and Congress and in dark rooms filled with computer monitors.
It's not that we're protesting against them by switching off on Independence Day. It's that we want to give those poor overworked civil servants of the NSA (and their private-sector helpers with Booz Allen) one single holiday with less radio chatter to help them enjoy their Independence Day as well.

Oh right, so what about the "50 Things To Do on the #PhoneFree4th Without Electronic Communication" tease at the top of this post?  If you can no longer think of 50 things to do without an iGizmo at your side, then you need to turn it off immediately, stick it in a drawer, and go outside without waiting for the Fourth of July.